Man has been confounded by his inability to eliminate cockroaches from his domestic environment since history begain. Cockroaches are among the oldest fossil insects and the most primitive living, winged insects. They prefer humid, dark and warm areas to live. The German cockroach (blattella germanica) is the most common household pest and are sometimes called waterbugs. Three or more generations may occur yearly.
Hundreds of methods have been developed to rid the home of the determined cockroach, but cockroaches are still a major menace and difficult to keep in check. In the late 1800's borax was a common remedy because of its low cost and reasonably good results. Borax (sodium tetraborate) is a mineral found principally in the Western United States. This rock is processed for purity and ground into an ultra-fine powder. Sugar and chocolate was often added thinking the mixture would be attractive to the vermin, but both additives were found to actually be repellent. Borax can be improved through the addition of sugar which increases the effectiveness of borax in captive circumstances by up to four times. However, when the roaches were allowed to roam free, they regularly chose to stay away from the treated area thus rendering moot the increase in surface killing ability of the borax/sugar combination.
Todays concern for environmental safety, especially in the home, has brought about a renewed interest in oldtime solutions such as borax. Improvement of borax to make it at least equal to the killing effectiveness of commercial insecticides would create a product with little negative environmental impact while controlling the health hazzard, namely, cockroach infestation.